Burying a generator vault into a bank

[MossRoad]

Yes Cedar is beautiful. I sort of "rescued it" out in the woods. I found it bulldozed into a pile of brush, as waste. It had no rot. It felt good to cut it into beautiful boards.

The entire purpose is to reduce the noise of 16HP. Pretty sure venting / cooling ducts / exhaust thru the door is not rocket surgery but I'd like to see how others have done it. Retaining the 'quiet' with holes in the door probably IS rocket surgery.

Wish I knew how the grounding should be done.

What's the manual say about grounding? Nothing. It says the ground is connected to the AC outlet ground and has to be connected to any building properly by an electrician. It says nothing about grounding the generator itself, does it?

 

[MossRoad]

This should help you regarding grounding of a portable generator when not connected to a building....

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/grounding_port_generator.pdf

In a nutshell, the generators frame is the ground when you are powering tools directly from it and no ground rod is required.

 

[CurlyDave]

You might need a lot more ventilation than you are being told. I put a ~12000 watt Generac in a shed I built.

The exhaust is piped out through a muffler from a Ford 9N, the fuel is propane from our tank, and I provided ventilation. both a 9" x 16" vent, an open window, ~ 10" x 30" and a HF ventilator fan (Search results for: 'ventilator', blowing out. The HF ventilator is reduced to a 6" diameter duct through the wall with a 8" to 6" cone.

While the generator runs, the temperature inside the shed climbs steadily to over 100 degrees F with the man door closed, even if I set up a box fan blowing in just inside the vent.

If I leave the man door open, the temperature stays reasonable inside the shed, and that is how I run it now.

The problem, of course, is that with the man door open the noise is impressive.

Fortunately I was able to locate this 100' from the corner of the house, more like 150' from our bedroom, so the noise is tolerable, but definitely not quiet.

The way to handle the fans is simply to plug them into one of the outlets on the generator, so that generation running = fans on.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

As long as that door is open, it looks to me like the heat will rise and go out, drawing in cool from down low (where the genset is) to replace it.

I wouldn't worry about it...

SR

 

[PAGUY]

At a friends cabin they built a wood shed and designated a side for the generator to run with the door shut. It has a cement floor with a large eyelet buried in cement to chain it for security. They placed it in such away that the exhaust pointed toward a vent to the outside.They shut the door while it was running so less noise would be heard from inside the cabin. What happened was the vent was made of plastic and screening and melted from the heat of the exhaust. The building was made primarily of metal siding and possibly saved a fire from occurring. They have since installed piping to vent it up and through the roof of the shed. No problems since this improvement. The vent now allows outside air into the shed for the generator to run with ample air.

 

[Sodo]

This should help you regarding grounding of a portable generator when not connected to a building....
https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/grounding_port_generator.pdf
In a nutshell, the generators frame is the ground when you are powering tools directly from it and no ground rod is required.

The reason for my grounding concern is I use it with 60 feet of "extension cord" (for now). But I will bury a wire and plumb it to the shop, at which point it's similar to "60 feet of extension cord" except 10-2 Romex. I thought I understood that grounding became important to shorten the length of the groundpath? If grounding rods at the building won't help anything, I'd like to know that as I have rocks just a couple feet down.

Utility-safety-alert: The nearest grid is 2 miles away, lets not get too far off-topic into danger to utility workers.:laughing: It will NEVER be hooked to the grid and never a danger to utility workers.

 

[Sodo]

They shut the door while it was running so less noise would be heard from inside the cabin. What happened was the vent was made of plastic and screening and melted from the heat of the exhaust. The building was made primarily of metal siding and possibly saved a fire from occurring. They have since installed piping to vent it up and through the roof of the shed. No problems since this improvement. The vent now allows outside air into the shed for the generator to run with ample air.

For the venting I think I can figure it out (not plastic !! ) . I've seen a friend's setup (much bigger 'room' though) and not as 'thought out' as I will do it.... and it worked (6500W). He did not have an exhaust, the exhaust simply mixed with all the air in the room, and just a "grating" on the door. Which the sound passed thru readily.

A thermometer will tell me if more ventilation is needed, its a balance of noise vs temperature I suppose. I like a challenge. Easy to add fans running off the 110v as Dave said. I'm becoming 'hard of hearing' and not just selectively. Background noise makes it hard for me to understand folks talking so I like to eliminate unnecessary background noise. Also like to listen for trucks etc driving past on "my" road & prefer not to announce (to them) that there's a shop in the woods. Also listen for someone coming up the driveway. And hear myself think. And listen for wildlife. Quiet is good, power is good. Cedar is good. Life is good. All good!

 

[ultrarunner]

Did the KX41 make short work of the excavation?

Only been around two bunker generator installs... both had a duct to supply outside air within inches of the genset air intake.

 

[MossRoad]

The reason for my grounding concern is I use it with 60 feet of "extension cord" (for now). But I will bury a wire and plumb it to the shop, at which point it's similar to "60 feet of extension cord" except 10-2 Romex. I thought I understood that grounding became important to shorten the length of the groundpath? If grounding rods at the building won't help anything, I'd like to know that as I have rocks just a couple feet down.

Utility-safety-alert: The nearest grid is 2 miles away, lets not get too far off-topic into danger to utility workers.:laughing: It will NEVER be hooked to the grid and never a danger to utility workers.

Extension cords are fine for each individual tool. But once you hook it to an outlet box fastened to the building, I'll guess it will no longer meet code, even if you aren't hooked to the grid.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I replaced the gen end on a 10K or so Northern/Yanmar genset. It had been in a special built dog house of sorts and a poorly built exhaust arrangement allowed exhaust into the compartment. High ambient temperatures fried the armature.